Higgins comments on I-5 bridge collapse in Washington State

by jmaloni

Press release

Fri, May 24th 2013 07:20 pm

"Last
night's collapse of a section of the I-5 bridge in Washington State
is a frightening reminder of the critical state of our nation's
infrastructure. We are thankful that no one was killed, but an
incident like this should never be acceptable in this nation.

"The
truth is, we have no one to blame but ourselves for a long-standing
lack of sufficient investment in our nation's infrastructure right
here at home. The perilous state of the I-5 bridge was already known
- it had been deemed fracture critical and functionally obsolete.
And sadly, this is among one of an alarming number of bridges across
our nation in a degrading condition.

"The
statistics are more than enough to raise concern:

According
to the World Economic Forum, our nation is 24th in infrastructure
quality.

According
to the American Society of Civil Engineers, there are 69,000
structurally deficient bridges in this nation.

In
New York State alone, over 2,100 bridges are structurally deficient
and more than 4,700 - close to 30 percent of all New York bridges -
are functionally obsolete. There are 99 such bridges in the Western
New York region alone.

The
Buffalo Niagara region ranks 13th
worst in the nation, among similar sized communities, in terms of
deficient bridges according to a report released by Transportation
for America.

Twenty-five
bridges in Erie County are rated both
fracture critical and structurally deficient.

Every
second of every day, seven Western New Yorkers drive on a bridge that
is structurally deficient.

"There
is not only a human cost to our crumbling infrastructure, but also an
economic one. A lack of investment in port infrastructure could
account for $270 billion in export losses by 2020; likewise, air
traffic delays cost the economy $33 billion a year, while freight
bottlenecks could cost the American economy as much as $200 billion
per year. Last night's collapse will indefinitely cut off one of
the main connections between Seattle and Canada, affecting commuter
travel and commerce.

"Our
country has spent $89 billion rebuilding the roads and bridges of
Afghanistan and $69 billion rebuilding the roads and bridges of Iraq,
yet this Congress will spend only $53 billion rebuilding the roads
and bridges of our own country. This is unacceptable.

"Last
night's bridge collapse should be a wakeup call. It's time to do
some real nation building right here at home."

Higgins
has repeatedly advocated for a large-scale investment in American
infrastructure. Last year, he introduced H.R. 4352, the Nation
Building Here at Home Act, which calls for a $1.2 trillion investment
in U.S. infrastructure over the next five years. A report by the New
America Foundation, titled "The Way Forward," found this level of
investment will create more than 27 million jobs through the projects
themselves and multiplier effects.